St. Landry democrat., 1887-02-12

cast me off now; glory be to God and II
the Lamb Amen amen, amen amen
dying JohH Powson, after preach
ing the Gospel so may years, what
have you to say?" my death-bed
is bed of roses" ''Dying DR.. Thomas
Scott, what have you to say!" Boys,
am going to the front" Dying telegraph
operator on the battlefield of Virginia.,
what have you to save" 1.-The wires arc
all laid, and the poles are up from Stony
Point to headquarters" dying Paul,
what have you to say?n 81 am ready now
to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand; I have fought the good fight,
have finished my course. have kept the
faith. o death, where is thy sting!
grave, where is thy victory: Thanks be
unto God, who giveth US the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ"
0, my Lord, my God, what delusion;
what glorious delusiOn! Submcrge me
with it, ill my eyes and ears with it, put
it under my dying head for a pilloW-this
deluslon; spread it over me for canopy,
put it underneath me for an out-spread
Wlng-roll it over me in ocean surges ten
thousand fathoms deep! o, if intdelity,
and if atheism, and if humiliation are a
reality, and the Christian religion is a de.
fusion, give me the delusion
The strong conclusion of every man and
woman in the house is that Christianity,
producing such grand results, can not be
deluslon. A lie, a cheat, a sWndle, an hal
luclnation can not launch such glory of the
centuries. Your logic and your common
sense convince you that a base cause can
not produce az illustrious result; out Of
the womb of such a monster no such angel
can be born.
There are many in this house this morn
ing, in the galleries and On the main floor,
who began with thinking that the Chris
tian religion was stupid farce, who have
come to the conclusion that it is a reality.
Why are you here to-day' Why did you
sing this song! Why did you bow your
head in the opening prayer! Why did you
bring your family with you! Why, when
tell you of the ending of all trials in the
bosom of God, do there stand tears in your
eyes-not tears Of grief, but tears of joy,
such as stand in the eyes of homesck chill
dren far away at school when some ono
talks to them about going homes WY
is it that you can be SO calrely
submissive to the death of your
loved one, about whose departure
you once were so angry and so rebelliousa
There is something the matter with you.
All your friends have found out there is
great change. And if some of you would
give your experience, you would give it in
scholarly style, and others giving your ex-
perience would give it in broken style, but
the one experience would be just as good
as the other. Some Of you have read
every thing. You are scientific and you
are scholarly, and yet if l should ask you:
"What is the most sensible thing you ever
did?' you would say: 1.-The most sensible
thing I ever did was to give my heart to
God"
But there may be others here who have
not had early advantages, aud if they
were asked to give their experience, thy
might rise and give such testimony as the
man gave in prayer-meeting when he
said: ''On my way here tonight, l met
man who asked me where / was going. ]
said: \ am going to prayer-meet,
ing He said: There arc a good
many religious, and I think the
most of them are delusions; as to
the Christian religion, that is only
a notion, that is a mere notion, the Chris
tan religion 1 said to him: Stranger,
you see that tavern over there!' Yes
he said, Il see it, DO you see me?' sYes,
of course see you Now, the time was,
as every body in this town knows, that if
had quarter of dollar in my pocket could
not pass that tavern without going in and
getting drink; all the people of Jefferson
could not keep me out of that place; but God
has changed my heart and the Lord Jesus
Christ has destroyed my thirst for strong
drink, and there is my whole weeks
wages, and have no temptation to go in
there; and, stranger, if this is a notion, l
want to tell you it is mighty powerful
notion; it is a notion that has put clothes
on my children's back, and it is notion
that has put good food on our table, and it
is a notion that has filled my mouth with
thanksgiving to God And, stranger, you
had better go along with me, you might
get religion, too; lots of people are getting
religion now.''
Well, we will soon understand it all
Your life and mine will soon be over We
will soon come to the last bar of the music,
to the last act of the tragedy, to the last
page Of the book-yea, to the last line and
to the last word, and to you and to me it
will either be midnoon or midnight